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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Syria: Bin Ladens teenage daughter returns |
| 2010-03-22 |
| [ADN Kronos] (AKI) - The daughter of Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden has returned to Syria after being held for eight years in Iran against her will, according to pan-Arab daily 'al-Sharq al-Awsat'. Nineteen-year-old Iman Bin Laden and her Syrian-born mother Najwa Ghanem, Bin Laden's first wife, arrived in Damascus on Thursday on a flight from Tehran, the daily said. She is now in the port city of al-Ladhaqiya, near the Turkish border, where she has been reunited with members her family, including siblings living in Saudi Arabia. Iman Bin Laden spent the past three months inside the Saudi embassy in Tehran, where she had sought refuge. She was detained in Iran in 2002. Iman reportedly managed to reach the Saudi embassy after escaping from her guards and phoning her brother Omar in Syria to let him know she was still alive. She was arrested in Iran in 2002 as she tried to reach the Afghan border, together with another of her father's wives, Umm Hamza. Six of her siblings and 11 of of Bin Laden's nephews and nieces are still being detained in Iran and have suffered physical and mental health problems, Iman has told the media. Last November, Iman's brother Omar started a campaign in the Arab media to free her. Saudi foreign minister Saud al-Faysa reportedly played a key role in Iman's release. |
| Posted by:Fred |